The Island
by 4everLostInThought
Summary: In "Jurassic Park" scientists created genetically engineered dinosaurs and placed them on islands off the coast of Costa Rica. It's all just a very entertaining story...right? But what happens when a group of ordinary people accidentally stumble upon a mysterious island with untold dangers when their boat crashes? Their trip turns horribly wrong as the islands secrets are revealed.
1. The Beginning

_**Alana:**_

"You have got to be kidding me," I stammered as I froze and stared open mouthed at the floating death trap that rested mere yards from where I stood.

I had stopped so suddenly and unexpectedly that my older brother, Ethan, nearly ran into me.

"No, I think he's serious," replied Ethan as he glanced up momentarily from his android smartphone to take in what had stopped me cold in my tracks. "Here we go again... And remember to breathe Lana," he advised after catching a glance at my utterly dismayed expression. It wasn't until Ethan reminded me that I realized I'd stopped breathing as I gawked in horror at what I was getting myself into.

"Dad! I'm not getting on that thing!" I nervously fumbled with the strap on my light pink designer shoulder bag I carried with me everywhere as I turned to face my father.

"Oh come on, Lana. It's just a ship! And besides this is going to be fun! A short cruise through the many islands off the coast of Costa Rica! What could be more fun?" And that's Dad for you. All exclamation marks and enthusiasm. He tries too hard, but it's always in vain. Disaster is inevitable. He shook me by the shoulders and grinned goofily. "And since when have you been afraid of sailing?"

I just stared at him. How could he forget? "Since you took us jet-skiing five years ago and managed to both crash _and_ capsize the boat." Ever since that incident I've never been too fond of boats, or water for that matter.

"Well it wasn't my fault... entirely...if the other guy didn't just decide to park his boat in the middle of the lake, right in our path, nothing would have happened!" he countered feebly, but we all knew the truth. Ethan rolled his eyes in annoyance at this statement, yet uncharacteristically remained silent. He usually had a lot to say when it came to Dads' mistakes. Dad sighed, "I know I haven't spent much time with you and Ethan since then, but-"

"I suppose that wasn't your fault either _Stefan_. Nothing is ever your fault, is it," Ethan interjected tartly. Ever since the divorce, Ethan hasn't been too fond of dad and he made it known.

"Ethan!" I said sharply with a subtle shake of the head, signaling him to shut up, as I glanced at Dad and took in the hurt etched expression that was quickly morphing into frustration on his face.

"Can't you see I'm trying to change things? I get to see you two only a few weeks a year, so lets just get through this without fighting for once! I'm trying to make this work," he huffed. "And don't call me Stefan! I am your father so I think I deserve to at least be called dad by my own son!"

Mom and Dad got divorced when Ethan and I were eight and six, and now, Ethan was not just going to let Dad try to make amends for missing out on nearly ninety percent of the past nine years. I on the other hand believe in the concept of forgive and forget.

"Whatever you say, Stefan," mumbled Ethan as he strides off to board the boat with Dad following closely on his heels.

I stared after them, wanting to follow, but I felt like I lost all the feeling in my legs. I mentally willed myself to take another foot forward, as I drew in a shaky breath of hot, humid air as I reassured myself that everything was going to be fine (since everyone else seemed to skip out on that part). I'm not going ruin this trip because I was a little scared of some floating inanimate object. That's Ethan's job, and he's doing fine on his own. Besides what are the chances of a ship crashing _every time _I get on one? A billion to one...right?

_**Stefan:**_

"See, there's Tortuga Island. We might see a lot of turtles! You still like turtles right?" The colorful brochure I had picked up earlier highlighted the main attractions located off the coast of Costa Rica. I picked up my pace so I could walk, more like jog, alongside Ethan.

I was given a mumbled response sounding, from what I understood, like, "Yeah, sure." He was still focused on whatever was capturing all his attention and interest on his phone. This was not going to work. How am I supposed to try to connect and relate to my son if he won't even look at me.

I took a few quick steps, stealthily reached over his shoulder, and swiftly plucked the phone right out of his hands, and out of curiosity I glanced at the screen – he was reading about conspiracy theories, that was an eyebrow raiser – before smoothly pocketing it in the pocket on the chest of my shirt. That got a reaction.

"What was that for?" I just earned myself a glare. At least I could understand him this time. An improvement, right?

"Don't worry, you'll get it back at the end of our vacation." Ignoring his blatant protests I calmly continued a few steps up the wooden ramp to the ships deck before glancing back giving Ethan a pointed, 'Are you coming, or what?' look. I was returned with a classic 'like I have a choice' glare as he brushed past me.

I'm trying. I really am trying. I just need Ethan to give me a chance and then I could show him, and Alana of course, that I do care about them. That I do love them and I'm not the same irresponsible, absent father they think I am. And I have a good reason for giving them that impression.

The divorce was messy. It ended with me and Lauren, their mother, fighting all the time. It seemed like whatever I did was wrong, like I was to blame for everything that went wrong. That I was never around when needed, that I was always working, that I didn't spend enough time with the kids. All this started a year before Lauren filed for a divorce. Before that we were the classic, cliched, one big happy family. But now, you could make a reality television show out of us.

My job is conflicting. I'm a sales consultant who does a lot of traveling – at least that's what everybody thinks. Truth is, that's just a cover story to hide the truth. My real job is a whole lot more dangerous, and if anybody ever found out what I really did, they'd be put in harms way. That's why I never told Lauren– even after we were married – or the kids.

I'd barely seen Alana and Ethan since the divorce, and even less after the jet-skiing incident. I had managed to convince everyone that I had rammed into that guy on accident, but I did it in full consciousness. That guy had been following me for days thinking he was subtle enough to escape my watch. When I saw the all too familiar gleam of a sniper rifle concealed in his hands, I knew what I had to do to protect my family, and I did it. And it's had it's consequences. Lauren freaked out and wouldn't let me take the kids anywhere where something like that might happen again.

I felt a pang of guilt thinking about that. I'm the reason Alana's deathly frightened of boats, and now, I'm taking her onto another boat. What a grand idea that was.

Maybe this cruise thing was a bad idea. We'll be back on dry land an hour or so after sunset and it's private, but Alana looks so uncomfortable and I don't want to ruin my second chance. Well, to be honest I blew my second chance a long time ago. It's more like my seventh or eighth chance really. But I know things will finally get better after this trip. I just know it.


	2. Rumors

_**Ethan: **_

The boat was called the SS Aventura. No surprise as to what that translates to in English. The only adventure this is going to be is an adventure into a living nightmare. The crew on deck was busy preparing for departure. There weren't many people on board to begin with, though the boat was about as big as a ferry. It was a double decker, but that seemed to be reserved for the captain. Everyone yelled out to each other in Spanish as they carried on with their tasks.

The captain, from the looks of his terribly cliched hat, came down from the platform where he and another heavily muscled man stood earlier. A huge grin hung on the captain's tan face as he went over to shake Stefans' hand and give him a hug.

That was odd. It seemed like they already knew each other and that they were also good friends.

"Aah, Stefan, it's so good to see you again!" His English was heavily accented, but it sounded different than the dialect of the locals.

"Yes, it is! It's been quite a while since I was last here." Catching sight of me, Stefan waved me over and introduced me to Captain Carlos.

"This is Ethan, my son." I stuck my hand out to shake his with an accompanying smile, but kept my mouth shut, for once, and observed silently. Something felt off. "And... my daughter..." Stefan stretched his neck to look around, spotting Lana, just coming up onto the deck, looking very pale. "Oh, there you are Lana. This is Carlos, and," gesturing at the second man who stood silently, with his arms folded across his stomach, next to Captain Carlos. "This is Adrian, the ships' navigator." Adrian looked pretty hard core for a navigator. He was tall, and muscular, with a military tattoo peeking out from under the left shoulder of his dark v-neck.

"Nice to meet you." Lana looked freaked out, but relaxed some when she saw Carlos. He must of struck her as the non boat sinking type of person. It's too easy to win over her trust.

"You look just like your father, _querida_, while your _hermano_, looks so much like your mother," he said, taking in Lana's pale alabaster skin she inherited from Stefans' side of the family. They were Italian, while moms' family was from the southern states. Another weird thing, he knows mom too, yet I don't remember ever hearing about him before today.

"So we will be leaving in about fifteen minutes, once we finish routine checks to make sure everything is in good condition." Adrian stated more for Lana's benefit than anything else before he followed Carlos back up to the steering deck, like the one out of "King Kong," only not as rusty and more modern.

"Isn't this exciting." Stefan was grinning happily, while I turned and walked as far away from him possible on the boat. Lana meanwhile, must have realized her best chance for not drowning or falling overboard, was to stay far away from the rails, and under the awning at the center of the ship.

"Where...where are you both going?" I couldn't help but smirk silently at Stevens' confusion as I walked away.

At the other side of the boat, as I stood leaning against the railing, staring out into the horizon. The sun was still rising in the sky and the orangey-yellow sky contrasted magnificently with the dark ocean.

I looked over and counted the number of crew members. There was Carlos and Adrian, up by the steering wheel, two men working closely side by side, tending to the blinding white sails, and I knew there were two men below the deck. One was the cook, and I'm not entirely sure what the other one does. The last person on the crew couldn't have been much older than me. His short, gelled dark hair, was glistening in the morning light as he transported a coil of rope.

I turned away from my examination of the people who I'd be spending the next couple hours with, as I continued to stare absent-mindedly at the horizon.

I didn't want to come. I could have thought of a hundred other things to do than come. But I promised Lana that I would at least try to get along, and here we are barely a day in and my bad attitude is getting in the way. I want to be able to forgive Dad and move on, but as soon as I do that, he's just going to pack his bags and disappear for months at a time with no warning or contact. Abandoning us, like he had done for half my life. And when it does happen I don't want get hurt and I don't want Lana to either.

"Frown any harder, and your face just may be stuck in a permanent frown." I looked up to meet the dark eyes and ridiculous grin of the kid I saw earlier.

"Yeah, well, if you decide to grin any harder, you might as well become a rodeo clown. You won't need any makeup to keep a smile on." His infectious grin grew larger and I couldn't help but let out a small smile myself.

"Name's Damian." He stuck out a hand to accompany the introduction.

I paused before replying, "Ethan." What could it hurt to make a friend? I doubt Stefan and I will have a real conversation anytime soon and it looks like Lana's about to enter cardiac arrest. "Are you from around here? You don't have an accent like everybody else." He didn't. He actually sounded American. Though technically there really is no such thing as 'American,' since there are a bunch of different cultures in the melting pot.

"Nah. I live in the states too."

"So what're you doing here then?"

"Parents sent me into exile, aka character building by spending the summer here, helping my uncle out with his boat."

A mischievous glint entered his eyes. " Got in trouble one too many times."

"You're Captain Carlos' nephew?"

"Yup. That's the one. But don't listen to all the rumors. Most likely they aren't true."

That piqued my curiosity. I knew something was off about this man. "What rumors are you talking about?"

"I guess you haven't heard then." Damian shrugged his shoulders and leaned on the railing. "Well for starters everyone around these parts thinks my uncle is crazy."

"Crazy?"

"Yeah, crazy. Out of his mind. Lost his marbles. Has a loose screw-"

"Yeah, I got it. Crazy. Why?" I interjected though I couldn't help smiling.

"Well my uncle's the only guy in these parts who took your dad up on the offer for a tour of these islands." He must have saw the confusion on my face. "You see, people around here don't want to go sailing around a few of the islands around here... they believe they're cursed or something."

The smirk on my face must have been huge.

"Yeah, every time people go sailing in that area, you never hear from them again. And the one guy who did make it back alive was a psychotic wreck. He was institutionalized." I stared intently at him, waiting for him to continue.

"He kept going on about giant lizards and monsters." Damian glanced at me like he was trying to figure out if I bought all that crap. I could tell he wasn't making this curse thing up just to scare me though.

"Let me guess the next part." I added my thoughts to the one sided conversation. "Your uncle doesn't believe in curses, and spites everyone else for thinking it exists."

"Right on. He was the only person around here crazy enough to give you guys a tour of the islands." Looking up towards his uncle Damian said, "Yeah I gotta go. I'm the official tour guide who spouts historical facts like the Trebuchet fountain."

With a wave goodbye he left walking towards Stefan. The boat lurched and I heard Stefan curse. He dropped his phone in the lurch and now it was making its way to the sea floor. At least it wasn't my phone. I turned back around and resumed gazing at the horizon, pondering what Damian said.

Hours later I was gravely bored. I had probably walked around the ship a dozen times, sat up in the control with Captain Carlos for an hour learning about steering, and consumed about three and a half sandwiches. Periodically I listened to Damian's seemingly never ending narration of the history of a bunch of land sticking up out of the water with a bunch of trees sitting on that land. The view was breathtaking and parts of what Damian was stating sounded interesting, but still I felt restless.

Parts of a particularly loud conversation drifted into my ear, sounding like arguing. I turned around to see Stefan and Lana, doing something that resembled arguing in the loosest form of the word, since Lana hates to argue, especially with Stefan. I walked over to see what all the commotion was about.

"Come on Lana! You're missing out on all the fun! Damian was just giving me a detailed history about these islands."

"No thanks Dad, I already well informed about the history of these islands. Three hours of information is more than enough."

"Do you really want to just sit there and read for the rest of the ride?"

As I got closer I stealthily grabbed the paperback from Lana's hands ignoring her protests as I scanned the cover.

"Are you really reading 'Jurassic Park' again?" I questioned as I tossed her book back to her shaking my head grinning. I have to agree though, it is a great book.

"Whatever," she huffed as she stuffed the book back in her bag and pulled out her camera instead.

"Whoa, nice camera." Stefan reached out to get a better view. Lana's face visibly lit up. She's loves taking about anything to do with her latest- and so far longest- obsession, photography.

"You like it?" Lana grinned. "It's a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Mom got it for me for my birthday last year.

"So I guess you're into photography then, right? With a camera like this? What do you take, color or black and white?"

I visibly cringed at this comment, while Damian must have sensed something was off, since he had already started backing away silently towards the railing. Family drama is something he really doesn't want to be sucked into. Lana's face drained and clouded over. Ever since she got that camera she's been taking these pretty amazing pictures and mailing them to practically everybody she knows, including Steven, pretty much every week.

I watched as she took her camera back wordlessly, hung it around her neck, picked up her bag, and stormed off, seeming to momentarily forget her phobia, leaving Steven staring after her with a confused expression on his face.

"What did I say?" I shrugged, there was no point in explaining now.

I should go talk to Lana. But just as I took a step forward, the boat lurched.


	3. Marooned

_**Alana:**_

The boat lurched, like something banged into the side. I stuffed my camera back in my bag and zipped it up, just in case I go for an unscheduled swim.

I knew something like this was going to happen. Nothing good ever comes from a ship. Why couldn't I have been on an airplane or a train instead? We just had to be in the middle of the ocean.

The boat lurched again, but this time harder, I fell on my hands and knees. The crew began to scramble around adjusting the sails in flurry of Spanish.

"Ethan!" I caught a glimpse of Ethan and Dad both starting to run over to me. Just as I tried to pick myself up, one end of the ship began to rise steeply while the other end dipped down into the water.

I scrambled up to no avail, my fingers slid over the smooth polished surface of the ship's deck as I slid backwards. There wasn't even any time to scream, for in a matter of seconds I had fallen over the railing as the ship lay almost vertical in the water.

I felt ice cold water as my entire body went under. I clenched the metal railing as hard as I could and struggled underwater trying to use the ship's hull as leverage to break through the surface. My lungs were bursting. I didn't even have any time to take in a breath of air before I was pulled under.

I could feel the ship start to level out already, but I was still underwater. A hand shot through and grabbed my wrist, yanking me up. At that exact same moment, the ship decided to level out, just like the Titanic when it broke in half. The side above the water fell down as the side under rose up. I flew out propelled both by the ship and by the person dragging me out of the water.

I landed in a wet, gasping heap, half on top of Ethan and half on Dad.

"Lana...You're breaking my rib cage." Ethan choked out between gasps for air. I got off them and collapsed next to them instead.

I coughed up a lot of water, my eyes were stinging from the salty seawater and I was dripping wet from head to toe. My over the shoulder shirt was clinging to me and my jeans were just unbearably wet. This is why I hate being on a boat.

Dad helped me up and then went over to talk to Captain Carlos who was looking flustered as he yelled orders to his crew.

"Damian!" Ethan called out and motioned for him to come over. "What the hell just happened?"

"Something banged against the side of the boat. Don't ask me what- I have no idea. Whatever it was it did a lot of damage, the hull is leaking-"

"We're sinking?" My voice was rising on the borderline of hysteria. This was the point I really and truly started to freak out. I'm not a strong swimmer. I couldn't tread water even if my life depended on it- which is a consequence of being traumatically scarred as a child.

"No, no!" Damian tried to calm me down. "We're not sinking!...yet. We're just going to have to make an emergency dock at the nearest island and check for repairs. But the crew is kicking up a storm, the whole island curse and everything..." He ran a hand through his hair looking frazzled. "Don't worry about it though... I'll get you a towel or something," he added taking my dripping new look in.

I dropped down onto the warm white sand as Dad collapsed next to me on one side and Ethan on the other. My hair was a little less drippy, but my clothes were still uncomfortably wet. I pulled the contents of my bag out checking for damage. My bag itself was a little soggy and wet on the outside, but the inside was relatively dry.

Most importantly my camera was fine. I pulled it out and began snapping candids of the crew running around assessing the damage to the boat.

"I want to go home." I made my statement stubbornly clear to Dad. I'd reached my breaking point. The ship should have been excuse enough, but I'd really wanted to spend some time with Dad, so I got on the stupid ship. And look where it's landed us now.

He gave me this 'I'm really sorry the boat pretty much sank for the second time' look.

"Oh don't worry Lana, it's not the boat you need to worry about. You heard Damian say the island's cursed. The dinosaurs are the ones that shall prove to be a problem. We'll all end up like the people in 'Jurassic Park,' maimed and eaten alive."

I just frowned harder. I wasn't in the mood for Ethan's sass.

Ethan was building a sandcastle on my leg. I giggled and shook off the sand. I snapped a few pictures of him diligently rebuilding, momentarily distracted from our predicament.

Just as I turned back to face the boat to snap a few more pictures, an earth shaking roar filled the air.

I snapped my neck around and stared at the foliage behind me searching for the thing that made it.

"What the hell was that?" Dad stood up, taking a few steps closer to the jungle behind us.

"Umm... a dinosaur?" I slapped the back of Ethan's head as I got up as well.

"Stop scaring me!"

The roar sounded again and the foliage started to shake violently.

I took a few steps backward and crashed into Damian whose arm I gripped, probably cutting off all blood circulation. The ground began to tremble slightly.

Emerging from the foliage was a huge reptile with scaly red-brown skin. It's large head was greatly unproportional to it's tiny little arms. It stood at the edge, where the jungle meets the sand, it's ribcage heaving as it watched us with its beady eyes.

My mouth fell open as I began to realize what it was.

"It's not possible." Ethan muttered in awe under his breath.

Suddenly shots of gunfire filled the air. The T-Rex roared outraged. Damian pulled me down to the sand. Turning around and craning my neck over Damian's shoulder, I spotted one of Carlo's men with what appeared to be an AK 47 shooting furiously at the T-Rex.

What a bad idea that was, he's just going to make it worse. The Rex roared outraged and began to charge.

"Run!" Dad screamed back at everyone as he grabbed Ethan by the elbow and started sprinting away into the jungle followed by Damian who dragged me along as I snapped shaky pictures.

My camera banged around my neck as a bloodcurdling scream filled the air. I know I shouldn't have looked back, but I did anyway. The Rex had scooped up the man with the gun in its massive jaws, crushing him. Blood was dripping down and coloring the pale sand a deep crimson.

Once we cleared the sand and hit the forest, the Rex seemed to have lost interest in the man with the gun, who it had torn to unrecognizable shreds. Dropping a now unrecognizable body, it fixed its dark eyes on us as we fled into the jungle.

With a roar it was off, gaining speed easily. Fear filled me and I picked up my pace, now dragging Damian along instead of the other way around. I'm not very athletic, I'd rather sit around doodling than go for a jog, but the sight of the Rex gave me incredible bursts of energy that I didn't know I had.

I caught up to Dad and Ethan as the Rex crashed through the foliage behind us. Dad banked a hard left, leading our group out of the forest in what appeared to be a huge clearing in which massive dinosaurs with long necks. Brachiosaurs, I thought with awe.

There were other dinosaurs grazing in herds such as gallimimus and a dinosaur who had an abnormal crescent-shaped head. That dinosaurs name was on the tip of my tongue, but I had bigger problems that remembering its name. As soon as we came crashing through with the Rex right on our heels, chaos erupted, it was like the Battle at Kruger.

The herbivores visually panicked, starting stampedes and forming protective barriers around their young.

"Head for the trees on the other side!" I barely heard Carlos scream as Damian picked up the pace, pulling me along.

A brachiosaurus ran over us, it's massive body blocking out the sun. Damian and I skid to an abrupt stop, just barely avoiding getting crushed under the herbivores' giant feet.

The rest was like a maze, trying to run around and in between dinosaurs trying to avoid both being eaten and crushed. Both were ways I didn't want to die.

The Rex, distracted by the sudden increase in meal options, began to attack some of the smaller herbivores.

The trees on the other side were in sight, just a few hundred more yards away. Suddenly a stampede of dinosaurs with the crescent shaped heads were on our heels. Some of them ran around us, but some panicked at the prospect of being prey for the Rex and jumped over us in their haste.

Suddenly Damian pulled me down and our momentum dragged us to the grass. I hit the ground hard and a pounding began to fill my head. Everything turned fuzzy, and the world seemed to echo as I was pulled to my feet and carried up and over something and deposited on the ground. something jumped over us and I felt the rush of its movement as it passed overhead.

The world cleared suddenly and the rush of giant feet pounding the earth and the roars of dinosaurs filled the air. I realized me and Damian were sitting behind a giant fallen log as the stampede jumped over us.

Suddenly Damian grabbed my wrist and started pulling me to the tree line. The noise started to fade away as we moved in farther. The noise began to die down until there was complete silence, only occasionally disrupted by the chirps of birds.

There was something serene of being alone in the forest. Wait. Alone?

I looked around frantically as I realized me and Damian had strayed from the group. We were alone. And apparently that wasn't our only problem.

Damian collapsed on the moist ground with his back against a tree clutching his left shoulder. Trails of red were trickling down, creating stripes down his tan arm.

"Oh my god! What happened?"

I knelt down next to him, moving his arm aside so I could get a better look at his arm. I wish I hadn't. It looked bad, like something had clawed his arm into a jagged five inch gash.

I lightly placed the tips of my fingers on the worst part of the cut but immediately pulled it back when Damian let out a gasp of pain.

"Those dinosaurs that jumped over us? Well one of them didn't jump high enough. Either that or I didn't duck down low enough." He shifted his weight so he could get a better look at his arm.

I pulled my shirt over my head, revealing my blue and white striped tank top and shuffled through my backpack until I found a pair of scissors.

"What are you doing?" Damian tried to get up, but I pushed him back down. "You carry a pair of scissors in your bag?"

"Don't smirk at me, it's for cutting up my photographs." I shoved my shirt and scissors in his lap and settled down in front of him.

He looked at me curiously, momentarily forgetting his arm. I looked through my bag again and pulled out a handful of individually packaged alcohol wipes, the kind you find in hospitals.

"The statistics of someone-usually me- getting hurt while around Dad is about 93.4 percent. Believe me, I've actually calculated that." That cracked a smile on his face.

"This is gonna sting a little."

"I'm sure I can handle it." He gave me a scornful look.

Opening the first square package, I neatly unfolded the alcoholic wipe and swiftly and firmly began to clean on the edge of Damian's wound.

He let out a startled yelp and pulled his arm back.

"What is that? Super alcohol?" Now I gave him a look of scorn.

"It's the regular kind. Besides I thought you could handle it?" I smirked at him as I pulled his arm back and continued on ignoring his blatant protests.

"You're such a baby." I teased as I shook my head and grinned as I watched him wince.

After his skin began to look more natural and only slightly red, I pulled my shirt from his lap and cut it up into one long strip of fabric. My shirt was very thin but it was one of those baggy over the shoulder types, making it easy to wrap around his arm.

I wrapped the fabric around his arm snugly and tied a tight knot when I ran out of fabric.

"Thanks. It feels better." When he smiled at me, I flushed a little. He had amazing eyes. They were dark and intense yet filled with friendliness.

"What do we do about these?" I motioned at the pile of used bloody alcohol wipes. "They can like lock onto your scent and follow us right?"

Damian looked a little skeptical but we decided to just bury the blood stained wipes in a shallow hole covered with dirt and dead leaves. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

"Which way now?" I looked around not knowing where to head.

"Let's go in that direction." Damian pointed to the right. "That's the direction I last saw everyone head."

"You sure?"

"Most likely." He didn't sound the least bit convincing, but that's the direction he headed. And I didn't want to just stand there waiting for someone to come rescue me, so I followed him.

* * *

_**Ethan:**_

"Where's Damian?" I looked around. "Wait, where's Lana?" I started to panic when all I saw was Stefan and the crew.

I turned around and stared at the direction we just came running from. Without a moments hesitation I hurled myself down the path we'd just come running from only to crash into Carlos who had stepped purposefully in my path. I struggled to break free of his grasp, but it was no use.

"Ethan stop!" Stefan pulled me away from Carlos, wrapping his arms around me, forcing me to stop fighting back.

"We need to go back!" I struggled to break free of Steven's grasp. "We need to find her!"

"Ethan! Stop and look at me!" I kept struggling for a few more seconds before sighing in exasperation and facing Stefan. "I want to go back too, of course! But just think. How? You saw those things! We can't just go running around without knowing what we're up against!"

"So you're saying we leave her for dead?" I stared at him in horror. "Don't you care at all? Oh wait that's an understatement! You don't care at all do you?"

"Of course I care-"

"No you don't! You never did! If you did you wouldn't have tried to stop me. You wouldn't have brought us here knowing Lana hates ships. You wouldn't have left us all those years ago!" Everything grew quiet after I said that.

The look on Stefan's face made me wish I hadn't. I mentally cursed myself for saying that out loud. I may not get along with him, but the last thing I intended was to hurt him like that.

"Ethan. I honestly never intended for this to happen. I want to go find Lana as bad as you do, but we need a plan first. OK?" He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. "I promise we'll get her back. We won't leave until we do." I nodded my understanding, but I still felt bitter resentment. He says he cares? He'll have to prove it to convince me.

Stefan and Carlos led the pack on a different objective in mind, heading in the opposite direction from where Lana would have been. I took a long look in in the direction _I _wanted to go before I silently followed everyone else.

A whispered conversation between Stefan and Carlos caught my attention.

"Stefan you should tell him."

"No, I can't."

"It'll be a lot easier if you did. Hiding this won't help your relationship, especially now."

"Maybe someday, but not now."

Tell me what?

Typical. Of course _he_ would have secrets from me and Lana. I pondered over what that could be as I picked my way over overgrown roots and low rise vegetation.


	4. Lost

_**Alana:**_

"Can I just say it?"

"No. We just have to keep going east-back to the boat-and we'll find them."

"I hate to break it to you, but that's not east." He froze, and looked at me bewildered.

"Of course it is...right?" I shook my head and pointed in the direction of east, to the right.

"How do you know?"

"The sun rises in the east." He grimaced.

"Right..." He sat down on a large tree root and looked up at me. "You can say it now."

"We are utterly, completely and hopelessly lost." I sat down next to him. Nerves were already starting to take over. My mind was racing with 'what if's.' What if we never get off this island? What if nobody comes looking for us? Where the hell was Ethan and Dad? I can't believe they left me behind. I know they didn't mean too, but if they were looking for me, where were they then?

"This is just great." We sat in silence for a moment, realizing just how much trouble we were really in, before Damian reached into his pocket and pulled something out. "Gum?" He offered with a small innocent smile on his face.

I couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

_**Ethan:**_

This trip is just one big mess. First the ship, then being marooned, and now being chased around by reptiles that have been extinct for 65 million years. And now Lana's gone. This day couldn't possibly get any worse-or at least I hope.

I stared in surprise at the water bottle bottle Stefan was holding out to me. I considered just ignoring him, but I thought better of it and took it, mumbling a thanks.

Maybe my grudge against him is a little too much sometimes, but I can't help it. I remember when I was younger and Mom was still with him, he would say he was going on a business trip for work, and we wouldn't hear from him for weeks, sometimes even a month or two. Mom tried her best to try to hide her anxiety and concerns when all the calls went to voicemail. I remember once that he came back bruised and cut, though he tried hard to hide it. They had a big fight about it where she demanded to know what he had been doing that left him looking like that, but he wouldn't crack. Even when Mom grabbed me and Lana and stormed off to grandma's house, leaving him standing alone in the doorway.

My thoughts began to drift towards the conversation between Stefan and Carlos that I had heard earlier. What secret? What wasn't he telling us? My brain was beginning to overthink and it was giving me a headache.

I stood up and began to head away from the group.

Dad shot up. "Where are you going?"

"Oh relax. I'm not running away." I waved him off flippantly as I continued walking. "at least not yet..." I mumbled under my breath.

I was relieved to find that he had sat back down when I threw a glance over my shoulder. I needed space to think. I sat down with my back pressed to a tree far enough from the group that I couldn't hear them, but close enough that I could see them.

What kind of island is this anyway? Dinosaurs are not supposed to exist anywhere except in books and movies. They don't belong in the real world anymore. It was all too surreal. What kind of idiots bring the dead back to life and just assume that everything would be fine. Everyone who was on the island is probably dead by now.

I stared in frustration at the sky searching for answers where I knew were none. A chirping noise yanked me from my thoughts. It sounded almost like a birds' chirp, but I couldn't put my finger on what was different. I stood up slowly. The foliage directly in front of me began to rustle. I moved towards it slowly, knowing that whatever it is, could potentially be dangerous. I stopped in front of the leaves and gently nudged the leaves around with my foot, but to my surprise, there was nothing there.

Just as I turned around to go back to my seat, the chirping starting again, only it was more to my right this time. Walking towards the rustling underbrush, I stopped a foot in front of it, examining it, before I jumped into the leaves, searching for the source of the chirps. Again, there was nothing.

A second later, the chirping starting again, only farther down from where I stood. Following the swaying underbrush, I made my way carefully over fallen branches and upturned roots. And then, as suddenly as the chirping had started, it stopped, leaving me confused and alone.

I ran my hand through my hair flustered. I'm imagining things now, aren't I? _Great, just great._ If the dinosaurs don't kill me, I'll probably die of insanity first.

I turned around to leave, but then the chirping sounded again. This was getting annoying, but the second I turned around in frustration, I froze. Standing completely unveiled before the foliage was a tiny, reptilian creature. It's long thin neck and slender body were a mottled brownish green. What really caught my eye were the sharp claws, four on each hand and the razor sharp teeth hanging from its slightly open jaws.

Oddly enough, even with those killer looking teeth, it didn't seem threatening. It was actually kind of cute. It hopped closer to me, craning its neck to the side to get a better look at me. It's tiny jaws opened, and the chirp I had earlier sounded. Getting down on my hands and knees I edged closer to it, trying hard not to scare it away.

The creature hopped closer to me cautiously, like it didn't know what to make of me. When it was close enough to touch, I extended my hand towards it slowly. It's beady eyes watched my hand as my fingers edged towards it. I wasn't expecting it to let me touch it, but it hopped closer and nudged its narrow snout under my fingers.

I grinned as I rubbed the back of its head as it gave out a happy chirp. Then it hit me. It was a compy! Just like in _Jurassic Park_.

Lana would love this...I sighed as I pulled my hand away from the compy and sat down on the dirt heavily. The compy surprised that I had pulled away so suddenly, hopped towards me, sitting down in front of me with its head cocked to the side, studying me.

I wonder how she's doing right now. It could be worse, at least she's not alone. She's got Damian with her, so she's probably fine.

But I'm not the type of person to just sit around and wait for things to happen. And I'm definitely not the kind of person that would listen to Stefan's rules. I know I have to go and find her.

Besides, Mom would kill me if I let anything happen to her.

My decision made, I got up and began to dust off my jeans.

A sudden high-pitched scream filled the air. My head jerked up as my eyes locked onto the area it seemed to be coming from. Without thinking, I sprinted in that direction.

There's only one person who could scream for a full minute that loud without breaking a sweat.

* * *

_**Alana:**_

At least my clothes are finally dry, I said to myself. Looking for the positive wasn't easy in a situation like this; it was all I could do to prevent myself from having a mental breakdown in front of Damian.

I followed slightly behind him, trying to avoid the occasional spiders and centipedes that scuttled across the dirt floor. Not only did that bother me, but so did the immense heat and humidity that seemed to be held thickly in the air. It wasn't helping my hair situation at all.

A bird landed on a low lying tree branch and chirped at me. It's feathers were bright blue, accented by a dark beak. It craned its neck at me, giving me a curious glance. I pulled out my camera from my bag and lifted it up to my eyes, adjusting the focus as I stepped closer to it. Before I could snap the picture, the bird flew off the branch and settled down on another branch. I glanced at Damian who had stopped and was leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree, catching his breath as he tried searching for a signal with his cell phone.

He'd be fine on his own for a while. I just needed one good picture of this bird, and I'd be perfectly content that this mess of a trip wasn't a complete waste.

The bird moved to a farther branch the second I got closer to it. This would have irritated a lot of people, but not me. I knew that amazing pictures don't just appear out of nowhere. You had to work at it, be patient, and spend a lot of time finding the perfect angle, make sure the light hits the subject right, and be just the right distance away.

I patiently crept forward, trying to make my movements as slow and unthreatening as possible. The bird flew down to a large boulder and stared at me mockingly.

I smiled.

"I got you now bird." I stepped forward and crouched right in front of a large tree, a few feet in front of the boulder. Before the bird could fly off again, I quickly found the right angle and focused the camera, snapping a few shots from a couple different angles before the bird flew off up into the air and out of sight.

Satisfied, I browsed through the pictures I recently took. Suddenly the forest seemed all too still. Something was wrong, very wrong. I was all too conscious of the quiet. I lifted my head slowly, but there was nothing there. I tried to shake off my nervousness as I stood up. Taking one last long look at the foliage in front of me I turned around to go back the way I came. I kept my face turned behind me, out of fear that someone was watching me. That was a mistake.

I crashed into something hard, but soft at the same. Something warm and wet transferred onto my bare arms and the side of my face. I jerked myself backward, and away from what I had crashed into. To my horror, I found a man, his clothes torn and bloodied, with a large nasty gash pouring out blood all over his torso. He was propped against the tree, with his arm around a large branch.

My mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out. Fear had me deep in it's clutches, helplessly paralyzed. My camera fell from my hand, hitting the moist forest floor with a thump.

Blood from the man, had stuck to my arms and the side of my face, dribbling down my neck. The stench of blood was intoxicating, making my stomach churn, but I slowly dragged myself closer to the man. The blood was warm and the gashes looked fresh. He could still be alive.

He looked young, maybe in his late twenties and he was tall-but I couldn't tell exactly because he was leaning awkwardly against the tree. His light brown hair was cut short, close to his head, and his clothes (or what had been clothes, but were now ripped in more than a few places) were peculiar- he seemed to be wearing a dress shirt, that once was white, before the blood stained it crimson, and black slacks with a loosened tie around his neck.

My hand trembled as I reached for his neck. The second my fingers settled on his neck, I instantly regretted it. Blood had made his neck slick and wet, but there seemed to be no cut on his neck.

Instantaneously, the man's eyes flew open, a deep sea green that was glazed over. He grabbed my shoulders, gripping them hard, with an unexpected strength. I let loose a horrified scream, as he tightened his grip on my shoulders.

I struggled out of his gasp, only succeeding at toppling the both of us onto the floor.

"Help me!" He screamed out, his voice hoarse and pleading. I screamed again and tried crawl away from him, but he grabbed me by the legs and tried to yank me towards him. He was surprisingly strong for someone who looked like he went through a meat grinder. He couched, spurting blood all over my tank top. He was dying.

Suddenly, Damian was by my side. He grabbed my by the arm and pulled me towards him, yanking me out of the man's grip and dragging me away from him.

The man struggled to stand up, only to collapse from coughing up blood. He fell on his back convulsing. Pulling away from Damian's grip I ran over to the man, and knelt by his side. The blood was pooling up in his mouth, and he was creating a horrible gurgling sound. He was drowning in his own blood. I took his head between my hands and turned it to the side, letting the blood flow out of his mouth and onto the floor.

The man groaned, as he moved his bloody hand over to his stomach. I didn't know what to do other than find my jacket from my bag and press it over his wound to try to staunch the blood.

"Just keep breathing. Just breath. Please, just keep breathing!" I whispered to him. I felt like if I said it enough times, then he'd be okay, but already I got see that his body was going still.

His eyes turned to find mines and they stared at me forlornly for a second before they closed, and his body went slack. I just sat there, with my hands still pressed over his wound, and my eyes still staring at where his would have been had they still been open. And then the world came rushing back to me. I was sitting next to a dead with body, covered in blood, I realized. And I couldn't do anything to save him.

I let out a choked sob, that soon picked up speed, until I was sobbing not only for the man who had died brutally, but for myself. Damian, gently picked me up from dirt and pool of blood by my arm. I fell into his arms, staining his shirt with salty tears, as he wrapped comforting arms around me, wishing that I was anywhere but here. Wishing that I hadn't just seen that. Wishing that Ethan and Dad and Mom were here with me right now.


End file.
